Karmel Melamed

With operation costs climbing for schools, and tuition increases bearing down on parents amid the current crushing economic downturn, the Orthodox Union’s Rabbi Saul Zucker recently laid out a revolutionary package of school cost-saving measures to a worried gathering of Jewish education officials in Los Angeles.

Before the red-carpet fanfare of the Emmy Awards proper, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences customarily honors the behind-the-scenes toilers who make television programming look and sound as it should. At this year’s technical awards ceremony, history was made when Lila Yomtoob, a sound editor on the HBO documentary “Baghdad ER,” became the first Iranian Jew to win an Emmy.

Krista Nassi, an Iranian Jewish artist in her 30s, made it through Tehran’s Institute of Graphic Design and Architecture and earned a master’s degree in art from Tehran’s University of Art. But when the installation artist tried to have her work displayed in one of the state-funded archives in 2000, she was turned away. She tried to enroll

Persian Jewish actress Bahar Soomekh earned some serious attention last year when she played a young Iranian in “Crash,” the Academy Award winner for best picture. She’s about to star in an even bigger role — playing alongside Tom Cruise in the thriller “Mission: Impossible III.” On the eve of the film’s debut, the Shmooze caught